Unlawful Meetings

Excerpt from a presentation of this work on the Stead Bureau Blog:

"Like all major reli­gions, Islam seeks to reg­u­late sex­ual rela­tion­ships between mem­bers of their soci­ety through moral codes. Accord­ing to the Quran, any form of sex­ual behav­ior is for­bid­den before or out­side of mar­riage. How­ever, that doesn’t pre­vent mus­lims meet­ing in secret to pur­sue romance or the grat­i­fi­ca­tion of mutual desires.

Lina Hashim, an Iraqi pho­tog­ra­pher born in Kuwait and now based in Den­mark, inves­ti­gates such illicit encoun­ters between young mus­lim lovers in parks, hid­den between trees, or under the cover of the night on beaches and in park­ing lots. Using night vision cam­eras, incon­spic­u­ous smart­phones or dig­i­tal cam­eras equipped with long range tele­photo lenses, she cap­tured cou­ples enjoy­ing moments of the great­est inti­macy in very pub­lic spaces in Swe­den and Denmark.

As Hashim, who also has a degree in anthro­pol­ogy, points out, ‘those who come from a mus­lim back­ground fol­low strict rules that sub­sume their indi­vid­u­al­ity, so that the true self is rarely revealed. The pub­lic per­sona and the pri­vate life are two dis­tinct zones, cre­at­ing para­doxes in every­day life that lead to a form of cul­tural schiz­o­phre­nia.’ This ten­sion is reflected in Unlaw­ful Meet­ings. It lies in the invis­i­bil­ity the lovers enjoy in pub­lic; for the most part, passersby turn a blind eye to the pri­vacy they cre­ate for them­selves in shad­ows and parked cars at nights."

NB : To read the full article on the Stead Bureau website, it's over here.

This work is also reviewed on Colin Pantall's blog.

This special edition is a Leporello (accordion-fold booklet) "hidden" in a small grey-cardboard box (cf. photos); on one of the faces, the "Day" series and on the back, the "Night" series (made using night vision).

Size of the box : 7 cm x 7 cm x 2.5 cm. Size of images : 5 cm x 5 cm.

We are offering here a few unsigned copies, and you will also find signed copies in the "Suggestions" tab, priced at 50 € (following the artist's suggested prices).

NB : Each copy of this book is hand-made and hand-bound, and variations and imperfections may consequently appear within this edition as part of the creation and production process.

40 pages - Accordion-fold in thick cardboard

Self-published, 2014

New - Mint condition (see above)